Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to input systems; and more particularly, it is directed to touchscreen input systems.
Description of the Related Art
Electronic devices such as mobile phones (e.g., the iPhone™, Blackberry™, and Android™ phones), global positioning system (GPS) devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and computer systems (including desktop and mobile computers) may use touchscreens for input. Touchscreens allow users to use their finger (or, for example, a stylus) to press a displayed input option (such as an on-screen icon of a virtual keyboard). For example, mobile phones may display a numeric keypad on a touchscreen and a user may enter a phone number by pressing on the touchscreen at positions corresponding to numbers on the displayed numeric keypad. Devices such as PDAs may include a touchscreen with a displayed alpha-numeric keypad to receive text, numbers, etc. for entry of data into electronic appointment calendars, contacts, etc.
While touchscreens provide convenience, they may be challenging to use if the displayed input options are too small for a particular user (this may especially be the case with smaller touchscreens used in portable electronic devices). For example, a user with large fingers or poor hand-eye coordination may have difficulty pressing a specific input option without the user's fingertip overlapping another input option. Because users have different sized fingers and press down with different levels of force (resulting in different contact areas on the touchscreen for different users) it may be difficult to design a touchscreen that is suitable to a variety of users.